OSU research station named climate hub

Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis is named one of seven national climate hubs by the USDA. It was closed Thursday and Friday due to inclement weather.

By Eric Mortenson

Capital Press

Published on February 7, 2014 10:00AM

The Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis this week was named one of seven national climate “hubs” to provide farmers and ranchers science-based information about climate change, drought, wildfires, pests and floods.

Calls to the station for more details went unanswered, however, because it was closed Thursday and Friday due to snow. Much of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, from Eugene north to Portland, was blanketed with 3- to 8-inches of snow.

Snark aside, the U.S. Forest Service’s station on the Oregon State University campus is now part of the USDA’s effort to provide the “next generation of climate solutions” to farmers and ranchers, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release. The other climate hubs are in Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Station Director Robert Mangold told the Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper that the designation as a climate hub doesn’t come with more budget money. Instead, the station will be expected to repackage climate change information in a format that’s more user-friendly for farmers, ranchers and forestry professionals.